Near Future Teaching

Designing the future of digital education at The University of Edinburgh

Author: Michael Gallagher

I am a researcher at the University of Edinburgh on the Near Futures Teaching project, a project that explores how teaching at The University of Edinburgh unfold over the coming decades, as technology, social trends, patterns of mobility, new methods and new media continue to shift what it means to be at university. The Near Future Teaching project is about working together to co-design the future of digital education at Edinburgh. We are running a series of workshops, talks, think- tanks, interviews and other activities both online and off: our aim is to draw together the views of students and staff to help design a future for our teaching based on the big ideas, values and visions of those who have a stake in it.

As part of the Festival of Creative Learning and feeding into the Near Future Teaching project at the University of Edinburgh, Dr Jeremy Knox of the Centre for Research in Digital Education and I conducted a Near Future Teaching session called Internet of (Campus) Things at the uCreate Studio. We had done a similar session…

On 18 January 2018, we were delighted to welcome 17 students at various stages in their training to the Institute for Academic Development. The students were primarily from the University of Edinburgh Veterinary Programme at The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies. They came along to attend a Near Future Teaching Thank Tank event. The…

Dr Jeremy Knox of the Centre for Research in Digital Education and I conducted a Near Future Teaching session called Internet of (Teaching) Things. The purpose was to stimulate thinking around how IoT technology can be used to proactively build community or improve teaching or research practices using configurations of data being generated by the university itself. Most…

Friday saw a Future Teacher event at the Moray House School of Education on the subject of learning analytics and its role in the future of the university. Much promise, much potential, and lots of messy, but promising developments. The event was organised by Anne-Marie Scott of Learning, Teaching and Web Services, and the speakers were Dragan Gasevic, Yi-Shan Tsai, and Jeremy…

We have received a second batch of works emerging as a result of a recent workshop on Future Fictions for Near Future Teaching. We are eager to present these here, two works imagining, in their own way, the future of the University of Edinburgh. Many thanks to James and Ana. I once dreamt I had a surface…

As a result of a recent workshop on Future Fictions for Near Future Teaching, we have been fortunate enough to receive some of the work emerging from that event by several of the participants. We present these here, four works imagining, in their own way, the future of the University of Edinburgh. Many thanks to Daphne Loads,…

Exciting discussions on the use of VR in education and what values it may hold in the future! #VR @Jisc_AR @IF_Edinburgh— Elaine Ford (@ElaineDFord) November 2, 2017 A recent event organised by our colleagues at the Institute for Academic Development for the Future Teacher initiative explored the use of virtual reality currently and its potential use for…

This session was delivered by Chris Speed and Kate Symons from the Centre for Design Informatics. Chris and Kate have made a fine art of the blockchain workshop they’ve developed to get people thinking creatively, and critically, about the implications of distributed ledger technology. Blockchain round 1! @NearFutureTeach pic.twitter.com/o7BqdhYWkn— Sian Bayne (@sbayne) October 27, 2017 Opening up the prospect of significant changes…

Hands-on the Future of Teaching | Near Future TeachingGet hands-on with 3D printing, virtual and augmented reality and more, discussing what technologies might be used in future classrooms at the University of Edinburgh, and discuss how our values can influence the decisions we make about technology for teaching.ed The Near Future Teaching project held a recent event…